Reimagine God’s love for you by reading slowly through these passages, inviting the Holy Spirit to be your guide and make visible the kingdom. John 4:1-14 - Living Water Luke 15:1-32- Lost is Found Psalm 23- The Lord is Shepherd Meditate on God’s love for you in these dear promises by reading aloud, writing, memorizing, doing art, and letting them soak in your heart and mind in a way that renews the way you think. Isaiah 43:1-7- God calls you by name. Psalm 139- God is intimately acquainted with you. Matthew 6:25-34- God cares for you. Romans 8:28-39- God’s power for good in your life. Ephesia ..read more

GOAT. We see that acronmym thrown around a lot in media and our friend groups as various athletes, performers, or world leaders are admired.  GOAT stands for 'Greatest of all time'.  There are a variety of  qualifications that are used to assess the value of someone's right for such a title.  I wonder if Jesus was asked to define the GOAT what he would say?  I think it would be the one who overflows love.  This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday on the church calendar.  It is a holiday to commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the early believers; who ..read more

As we end the book of Jonah, the last verse is a perfect doorway to Holy Week and turning our gaze on Jesus. Should I not also have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many animals?” Jonah 4:11 Should I not also have compassion?  In this, we hear God’s heartbeat for humanity in his ongoing, committed love. Oh the depths of his grace and mercy! Compassion is to love deeply and with tender affection.  In the gospels we ofte ..read more

I found a new friend and this recently installed mural at the end of River Plaza as I was taking a walk and soaking up the sun. Look at the long path, the faithful sowing of seeds, the beauty, fruitfulness... all with the city skyline in the background. I pray our church will be faithful gardeners in this city we live in. Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-wat ..read more

For the places we fall short, cry for help, or lack.  We ask and receive the depths of your mercy and grace.  Holy Spirit, Come. For those we love and those hard to love. God see their need, hear their cries. Bring the depths of your mercy and grace. Holy Spirit, Come.  For our church, our city, our world.  Bring the depths of your mercy and grace.  Hear our cry, Holy Spirit, Come.  ..read more

  We are in an anxious age. By some estimates, a third of all Americans will struggle with anxiety in their lives, and nearly 20% currently suffer from an anxiety disorder. For those suffering the mental distortions of anxiety, life can be difficult, and hope elusive. And for many Christians who have tried and failed to stop their slide into fear and worry by simply “laying down their burdens,” they may feel an added sense of spiritual failure as well. In this Online Conversation, Curtis Chang, the author of The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry is the Doorway to Your Best Self, will join p ..read more

Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:19 As Jesus met people, there was a clear invitation to come and follow. Come is a clear directive to take action and move towards me and be with me. You can’t have all of me where you are. It’s going to take action to be with me, and some things will be left behind. To follow implies even more than coming, it opens ourselves to a new learning about his way of life. It’s going to be different and distinct from your way. Remember follow the leader we played as children? Jesus says, follow me. Jesus also reveals his intentions to not ..read more

What do you think of when you hear this word? My thoughts on this word are changing.  Growing up in a Lutheran church, I would think of church as Sunday morning sitting in the pews making lines and patterns in the velvet pew cushion while the pastor talked or my parents sang hymns. Or I would think of the story of Martin Luther and how he started the Lutheran church by breaking away from Catholicism. Now that I’m older, I find myself longing to learn more about the church. Longing to better understand the difference between our local church (lower case c) and the Church (uppercase C) that ..read more

In 1953, Billy Graham joined where God was at work and publicly declared "No more of this."  It opened the doorway to a friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. and to a shared goal of  denouncing hate and social injustices. Joining efforts and a movement towards the call to love our neighbor and racial reconciliation.  "Human progress never rolls in on wheels of the inevitable. It comes from tireless efforts of being coworkers with God." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  One of the ways we most honor the work of these two men is to ask ourse ..read more

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.”2 Cor. 2:4a Our triumph comes from what God did in Christ. It is our victory. We give thanks to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and always through us. The primary purpose of the festivals of Israel was for the people of God to come together and give him thanks and praising His name. “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of our Lord. Psalm 122:1 This psalm talks about the place of worship, Jerusalem; the purpose of worship, the Lord; and the power of worship. It brings gladness to the hearts ..read more